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www.northharbournews.co.nz
9
NORTH HARBOUR NEWS, NOVEMBER 11, 2011
Advertising Feature
Living
Home
View our latest edition online at www.northharbournews.co.nz
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Plants that make a statement
Sago palm: This isn't a flowering
plant but produces a type of
cone, seen here. Male and
female cones are borne on
separate plants.
Structural plants are used to
make statements in the gar-
den. They may have striking
shapes, like bromeliads,
cycads and cacti, or use their
verticality to create garden
accents, as with ornamental
grasses and strappy-leafed
plants.
Modern garden designs
have made a feature of these
types of plants.
It's said this fashion is
waning and we are returning
to softer, billowy, flower-filled
gardens, but a visit to an up-
to-date housing estate will
suggest that they're holding
their popularity.
Here are some hardy
favourites:
Bromeliads
With alcantareas leaves
reaching up to two metres
across, this huge bromeliad
almost shouts out its pres-
ence in the frost-free garden.
The red-leafed Rubra ver-
sion is the most widely
sought after because the leaf
colour adds a special touch.
After a few years the plant
produces a three to four
metre tall flower spike. Then,
like other bromeliads, the
mother plant will gradually
fade and be surrounded by
clonal babies.
Puyas tend to be more cold
tolerant than most brom-
eliads. Puya berteroniana
forms a spiny plant about one
metre high and produces a
tall stem of metallic blue-
green flowers in summer.
Cacti and succulents
The slow growing golden
barrel cactus may, after
many years, reach its maxi-
mum size of about one metre
high and wide. It is unlikely
to bear its yellow flowers
until it is 40 to 60cm wide.
The spherical ribbed body
is dark green and covered in
fierce golden yellow spines. In
time, plants produce offsets
that can be separated from
the parent plant during
spring or summer.
For warmer gardens, aloes
have tubular flowers, mostly
in shades of red or yellow; all
attract nectar feeding birds.
The candelabra aloe (A.
arborescens) grows to about
three metres and forms a
multi-branched shrub topped
with rosettes of fleshy leaves
that bear showy pink-orange
flowers in winter.
Fan aloe, (A. plicatilis)
grows up to five metres. Its
flat succulent leaves are
arranged in one plane.
Cordylines
The New Zealand cabbage
trees (Cordyline australis)
make striking focal points in
the garden. Many coloured-
leaf varieties are grown,
including some with cream-
striped green leaves, or
maroon or purple leaves.
Red Fountain is a newish,
NZ-bred cultivar that forms a
clump, rather than develop-
ing a tall, mostly leafless
stem.
Cycads
The Japanese sago palm
(Cycas revoluta ) is the most
common cycad in cultivation.
Slow growing, it can be cul-
tivated in a container or in
the ground. It has stiff, dark
green leaves that are palm-
like (although cycads are
unrelated to palms).
The sago palm isn't a flow-
ering plant but produces a
type of cone. Male and female
(pictured) cones are borne on
separate plants. Watch for
scale insects Yates Bug Oil or
Confidor will help to control
these pests.
Flax
There is a huge range of
cultivars of these popular
New Zealand natives that are
grown for their sword-like,
upright or arching foliage.
The smaller varieties grow
well in containers so can even
be used in courtyard gardens.
As well as brightening the
garden with their attractive
leaf colours, these plants pro-
duce spikes of flowers that
attract nectar-feeding birds
like tui.